


The Gift Of You

by AsagiStilinski



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe- Werewolves are still a thing, Christmas, Cuddling & Snuggling, Derek is a Christmas Baby, Fluff, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Meet-Cute, Writer Stiles Stilinski
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2017-12-14
Packaged: 2019-02-13 09:42:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12981351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski
Summary: Stiles is broke, ok? And he does not have the money to be pining over an expensive collector's item- no matterhowamazing it is, fortunately, (or, unfortunately, depending on your standpoint) a stranger with a heart of gold anonymously buys it for him, now Stiles is out on a mission to give the stranger a special gift of his own, trouble is.... the guy wants the one thing Stiles could never give him





	The Gift Of You

**Author's Note:**

> My first fic for 12 Days Of Sterek!!!! :D This based on my life experience in that the thing Stiles drooled over is the same thing *I* drooled over, the difference being that instead of a kind stranger buying it for me I went in half on it and my mom went in for the other half and wrapped it up for a Christmas gift *cough* But atleast that's how I came up with it

"Just look at it Scotty.... isn't it the most beautifull thing you've ever seen in your entire life?"

"... If you say so,"

Scott's lack of commitment wasn't going to dampen his mood, no, he had something far more pressing to do that for him

Namely, the fact that he couldn't afford the prized treasure he was currently staring at

It was a beautifull, beautifull Wicked Witch Of The West doll- a freaking _steampunk_ version from Madame Alexander

And Stiles was _in love_ ok?

In love, and completely unable to afford it

"Just look at it Scotty!!" he repeated with a deep, longing sigh, staring down at the box as if it held the secrets to the universe or something

"Stiles... now you're just torturing yourself," Scott frowned, gently placing a hand on his shoulder

"I think it's time for you to put it down and move on, before you make yourself sick, c'mon... didn't you want to look at those Polish ornaments they got in? That's what your dad sent you in here for right?"

Yeah, he did

He had been the one to convince his father to give him a little cash for the ornaments anyway, so he definitely wanted to look at them, but...

But he just couldn't let go of the doll

He couldn't exactly manage to put it down, to settle with the idea of just _leaving_ it there

He wanted it too badly

Luckily- or unluckily, depending on your opinion- Scott seemed to understand his "dilemma" and gently pried the doll out of his freind's hands, setting it back down on the shelf and wrapping an arm around Stiles to guide him away from the aisle

"It just isn't fair.... why can't I afford nice things Scotty? Why can't I ever afford anything decent without running the risk of going into debt?"

Scott didn't answer him, probably because the answer would have been "Because you chose to go with one of the least paying careers EVER and you're not even very good at it", but just patted his back comfortingly and steered him towards the ornaments

Stiles was largely just sulking, entirely unaware that there was someone just around the corner who had been listening to the entire conversation

 

~+~

 

The ornament shopping had been something of a bust, only coming away with one cheap bird in the end

He had been somewhat excited and hopefull for it considering that his family was Polish- and in fact, that was why his father had given him a little cash to play with in the first place, because they both wanted some genuine peice of their ancestry to put on the tree

...

It was just too bad that the thrift store had VASTLY over-advertised how much of that ancestry they'd actually be selling

"Maybe your dad will let you keep the extra cash for Christmas shopping though, he didn't seem to have a hard time letting go of it," Scott suggested, clearly just trying to cheer him up

He was probably right but Stiles was still too down over the ornaments and the doll- especially, ESPECIALLY the doll- to have his spirits lifted too much by an extra twenty bucks in his wallet

"And atleast you got the bird," Scott added

"Yeah, the bird," Stiles muttered back, watching with disinterest as the clerk at the counter wrapped up the ceramic bird in packing papper and reached for a bag

It wasn't even a very pretty bird....

"Here you go, and don't forget this,"

Stiles' eyebrows raised in confusion as the clerk handed him the small bag with the ornament... as well as an unusually large bag

"Um, this isn't mine,"

"Yeah, it is, the guy who just left bought it for you, he said to leave it with this note," the clerk shrugged back, pushing the bag a little closer and handing Stiles a folded up a plain peice of note papper with a single line scribbled on it

_Merry Christmas_

Heart beating a little faster, Stiles shucked the bag down and felt a mixture of shock, awe, and ... and.. overwelming warmth flood through him

It was the doll....

The stupidly expensive collector's Madame Alexander doll that he had never even been able to find on Ebay because it was out of print as of YEARS ago that he JUST so happened to find at this stupid thrift store for a not-very-thrifty-but-still-decent-in-context price that he had mourned over half an hour ago...

Without wasting another second, Stiles bolted for the door, ignoring Scott's panicked shouting, and sprinted for the parkinglot, the clerk had said "the guy who just left" and there was only one guy who had left since Stiles and Scott had approached the counter

Stiles hadn't paid as much attention as he usually would have, but he had noticed the dark-haired stranger's leather jacket (because he had wondered what someone who owned a jacket that expensive looking was doing at a borderline thrift shop) and he had just finished scribbling something down at the counter when Stiles had got in line behind him to pay for the ornament

Now the guy was unlocking the trunk of a freaking _Camaro_ \- _why_ was he shopping at a thrift store!?- and setting a bag down in it...

Stiles had to be quick

"HEY!!" he shouted, running haphazardly from the sidewalk to the parkinglot

"HEY DUDE!! LEATHER DUDE!!!" he screamed, but the guy either didn't hear him or didn't care, because he shut the trunk and then promptly got in the car

Stiles wasn't stupid, and he wasn't fast either, he knew he wouldn't be able to catch up to Leather Dude- who was all the way on the other end of the parkinglot- before he took off, so he decided the best option was to pull his phone out of his pocket and scramble to get to the camera settings

Just as the car cranked up and started to pull out of the lot, Stiles managed to snap a few zoomed in pictures of the guy's license plate

So even though he didn't manage to catch up to the mysterious gift-giver before he left, now that he had the guy's plate number, he could do something even better:

Find out who he was, track him down, and thank him properly

 

~+~

 

"Stiles.... doesn't this feel wrong at all to you?"

"What about this is wrong?"

"Maybe the part where you're tracking a guy's license plates after hijacking one of the deputies' computers to do it?"

Stiles frowned, glancing up from the computer screen with a mildly irritated expression on his face

"Ok, first of all, I did not _hijack_ anything, that sounds SO bad and is totally not what I did, if Deputy Marsh just so HAPPENED to leave her computer on wile she's investigating the car alarm that went off in the parkinglot, then that isn't MY fault,"

Even if the car alarm that went off and wouldn't stop sort of _was_ his fault

"Second of all, yes I'm tracking his license number but for a VERY good reason, I'm trying to thank the guy for doing an INCREDIBLE thing for me! And not just thank him, either, I want to give this guy a gift- something he wants more than anything else in the world,"

"And you think you can afford whatever that is?"

He frowned, lips tightening as he glared up at his freind

"Scott, can you atleast TRY not to pee all over my parade?"

"Sorry, I'm just saying, if they guy has money like you said then how could you give him something he can't just afford for himself?"

Scott had a point, but Stiles wasn't going to let that detour him

"Ok, Scott? Pee, going ALL over my parade," he huffed, grinning excitedly when the computer finally pulled up the information connected to the license plate

"YES!!"

That was the guy alright

Tall, dark, and handsome

According to the driver's license, the dude's name was Derek Hale, he was twenty-five, he was born on- ...

"Oh. My. GOD. The dude is a Christmas baby!! No wonder he did the secret santa thing! He must be chalk FULL of Christmas cheer!!"

"You think so? I mean, you were born near Easter and you aren't exactly full of Easter cheer...."

"Ok first, 'near' and 'on' are two totally different things, and second, that is SO far from being anywhere near the same thing Scott, seriously,"

At this point he almost wondered if Scott was TRYING to ruin this for him, but whatever, it wasn't a big deal, Stiles had something concrete to go on now

Specifically, a name and an address

And he was NOT going to let anything ruin his plans now that he actually had a way of acheiving them

 

~+~

 

Stiles took a deep, deep breath as he approached the door to the stranger's- to _Derek's_ \- apartment

He had baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies as something of a "Please don't call the cops because I tracked your plates" offering

He didn't know if it would work or not, but he hoped that they might make things go a little bit smoother, at the absolute least

He hurried towards the door of the apartment building the moment someone stepped outside, easily putting his foot in the door and slipping into the building

He wasn't sure what apartment Derek was in, so all he would have to do is just ask one of the neighbors...

And hope that whoever he managed to catch wasn't going to think he was some kind of mugger or abusive ex or something and try to kick him out...

Luckily the first person to come downstairs was a little old lady who looked about as trusting as a newborn kitten

This shouldn't be too hard

 

~+~

 

"Hi!"

The look on Derek's face was.... startled

He looked kind of like a cat that had just been startled by a vacuum cleaner or something

"I'm Stiles, the guy you bought the doll for? I just wanted to say thanks for what you did, I mean, that was seriously the most generous, nice thing that anyone has ever done for me,"

"It's.... really no problem, don't worry about it," Derek said quietly, moving to close the door- but before he could, Stiles stuck his foot in, stopping him from shutting it

"I brought you these cookies! I baked them myself, I mean I'm not the BEST baker but they're decent, and this is like... bottom of the barrel, LEAST I can do,"

"You don't need to do anything, really, it's ok," Derek added quickly, reaching for the door again- but once more, Stiles stopped him from shutting it

"No no I do, I mean, I know you've got like this Santa thing going on because you were born on Christmas-"

"How did you-?"

"I tracked down your license plate, wich is how I got here, anyway I-"

"You tracked my lic-"

"Yeah but I wanted to thank you! I mean what you did was just ... BEYOND nice and I really want to do something to pay you back for it-"

"You really don't have to-"

"But I really really WANTED to, I want to give you something, to do something on scale with what you did for me, I want to give you something you really, REALLY want, something you want more than anything-"

"You can't," Derek huffed, starting to look... upset and .. kind of oddly pained

"But-"

"You really don't need to do anything for me, I just ... wanted to do something nice, that's all,"

"And I want to repay you-"

"You REALLY don't need to,"

"But I WANT to, so just tell me what it is that you want more than anything, and whatever it is, I'll find a way to get it for you!"

"You can't," he hissed again

"I can and I will, just tell me what it is! What do you want more than anything?"

"My family back!" Derek finally shouted, apparently having lost what was little left of his temper before gently nudging Stiles out and slamming the door

...

Well, THAT didn't go as he had hoped

And he hadn't even taken one of the cookies....

 

~+~

 

"I told you it wasn't going to end well,"

"Yeah ok thanks Mr. Pessimistic, on the list of things I don't need, that little tidbit is RIGHT at the top," Stiles bit back

He just.... didn't know how this had gone so badly so quickly

He had gone over there with good intentions and had just wanted to do something nice and not only had he just blown his entire idea of doing something good for once in his life, but he had probably ruined the guy's day too

How?

How was Stiles THIS much of a walking disaster!?

He just didn't get it

"Why don't you open the doll? I bet that'll make you feel better,"

"I'm not opening it till Christmas, besides.... I can't even look at it right now, not without feeling ... frustrated,"

And guilty, there was definitely a level of guilt to it too

"Cheer up, you atleast TRIED to do the right thing, it isn't really your fault that it didn't work out,"

Seriously?

THAT was his pep talk?

Did Scott know him at all?

"Yeah, well, don't count me out yet Scotty, I'm not done,"

That seemed to come as a legitimate surprise to the werewolf, who had apparently been pretty sure that Stiles' search was over and done with

"Stiles.... you can't bring the guy's family back to life, what are you going to do?" he asked softly

And yes, Scott had a point

After getting home from that rather humiliating little encounter Stiles had done some Googling and found out that Derek had every reason to wish for something as vague and odd as having his family back

They were all dead- every last one of them, killed in a house fire a few years ago

A little extra digging had revealed the name of the arsonist to be Kate Argent, making it very clear that this had been a hunting crime

To say that Stiles felt devastated on Derek's behalf was really putting it mildly, he didn't know what to do or say to make himself look like less of a butthead than he had looked like earlier that day- or even if there was anything at all but...

He still intended to do something nice for Derek for Christmas

Just because he couldn't give him his family back didn't mean he couldn't give him ANYTHING he wanted, right?

He would figure out something

Stiles was resourcefull, it was just a matter of time

....

He just hoped that Christmas didn't get here before he arrived at a solution...

 

~+~

 

"Son.... are you ok?"

"Huh?" Stiles mumbled, glancing up from the candle he had just put out and glancing over his shoulder at his father

"Yeah, yeah... I'm fine, why do you ask?"

"Well... you've been staring at that candle for the last five minutes, not that you've ever disliked candles but that seems to be a bit much even for you... what's going on?"

"Nothing, nothing..." Stiles mumbled back, but that lie didn't even sound convincing to _him_

"I'm just thinking .. about stuff, I guess..."

"Ah, the ever dangerous 'stuff'," his father said with a teasing snort, causing Stiles to roll his eyes, finally glancing at his father over his shoulder

"I'm just thinking about... do you remember the Hale fire? From a few years ago?"

The sheriff gave a slight huff of a breath, shaking his head slowly

"Do I remember it? How could I FORGET? That was a terrible case... why do you ask?"

"Well.... it's kind of a long story but I kind of know the only survivor and I'm just .... I want to give him something, something special, but I don't know what to do... where to start... he's lost so much, part of me feels like I should try to replace some things- not that I know what things those would be- but part of me just feels like... like I shouldn't you know? I... I don't know,"

"You can't replace the most important things that he lost Kiddo,"

"His family," Stiles concluded solemnly

"His family.... and any tokens of them, any photos, trophies, keepsakes... MEMORIES.... all gone, you shouldn't try to replace what he lost son, it's not going to do you any good,"

Stiles perked all of a sudden, mouth dropping slightly open and eyes widening

"No... Dad, actually, that's EXACTLY what I need to do, I just had the BEST idea! I've gotta go!" he shouted excitedly, jumping out of his chair and racing off before the sheriff could even get another word in

"Um..... glad I could help," he called after, face pinching in confusion and heaving a long, low sigh

"But I get the feeling I'll regret it by morning...."

 

~+~

 

"Hi,"

Derek did not look happy to see him

"Did you not get the message the last time?"

"No no I did I did, wich is exactly why I'm here, actually,"

That actually caused a look of surprise to flash across Derek's face, removing the irritation that had been sitting there a few seconds earlier

"I brought you something, I meant what I said a few days ago, I want to give you something that you really want, so.... here, you don't have to take it right now, but just.. it's gonna be here ok? Along with a box of cookies, so maybe don't leave it sitting out here for TOO long or cats might get them," Stiles explained, setting both packages down in front of the door before fast-walking to the elevator and getting in

He didn't see Derek pick up either gift, but he really, really hoped that he did...

 

~+~

 

"How did you get these?"

Apparently Derek DEFINITELY picked up the gifts

Or atleast one of them

"My dad's the sheriff, my freind's mom is a nurse, I looked into some things, dug around alot, and... and that's what I came up with,"

"Pictures of my family,"

His voice was quiet, somewhat unsteady, and weak, and absolutely full of emotion

"Yeah a... a FEW pictures, I mean, don't make it sound like I filled a photo album dude," he snorted back

He had really hoped to find more, if he was being completely honest, but atleast he found a few, sprinkled around from newspapper articles, yearbooks, there was even a photo deep in the hospital archives from the day Derek's older sister was born

He wasn't sure what it was doing there but he sure as hell wasn't complaining

"You had them framed," Derek added, because apparently they were stating the obvious now

"Um, no, not really, I framed them myself, framing is _expensive_ but I'm kinda crafty so..."

"They look professionally done, are you in this kind of business or...?"

"No no, I'm a writer, not very profitable, I just... tinker with artistic and crafty stuff," Stiles shrugged back

It felt kind of awkward if he was being honest, standing in his doorway with Derek standing just outside, neither of them really sure how to... approach this subject

"You didn't have to do this you know," Derek added a second later, causing Stiles to snort and roll his eyes

"And YOU didn't have to buy me that freaking doll but you did anyway,"

"Still.... this probably took alot of work-"

"And your gift took alot of money, writers don't really make anything unless they write about boy wizards or sparkling vampires so... the point is, we both did something nice for eachother, we should be satisfied with that,"

So how come he didn't FEEL satisfied?

Looking at Derek now, standing alone on his porch, emotional over a few family photos....

It broke his heart, especially knowing that Derek would be alone on Christmas... on his _birthday_ too for that matter, wich was even worse

He just couldn't take it

"Do you have plans for Christmas?" he asked suddenly, apparently catching Derek just before he said anything else

"I.... no, not really,"

"Would you LIKE to have plans for Christmas?"

The look on the wolf's face was... puzzled, to put it mildly

Outright shocked was probably a better description

"Don't YOU have plans?"

"Eh.... ish, my dad works on Christmas and ... my freind and his mom always invite me over but it feels like I'm interloping, especially because he's gonna have his fiance's family over this year and it'll just be like... sixth weeling it, so I'm gonna be alone most of the day if .. if you maybe wanted to hang out, come over, have some cookies... that kinda thing,"

Part of him wished he hadn't even asked, he was afraid of not only rejection but just being... weird

It was weird right?

To invite someone over for Christmas when he didn't even know the guy past two stunted, barely-five-minute-long conversations?

But extenuating circumstances and all....

"You.... really want me to?"

"Yeah, yeah I do,"

There was another pause, but this one was much shorter than the last

"Ok," Derek finally said, lifting a bigger weight off of Stiles' shoulders than he had even realized was there to begin with

"I mean, as long as cookies are involved, the ones you left with me were pretty good,"

"I knew my minor baking skills would come in handy one of these days," Stiles smirked back

And then things were kind of awkward again, and Stiles ended up offering another invitation because of it

"I'm making some right now actually, if ... if you want to come in?"

"I know, you don't have to be a werewolf to smell the cookie fumes all the way out here," he smirked back

Stiles' eyes lit up, taking that as an acceptance and stepping aside to let Derek in

The not-quite-stranger seemed to hesitate at first, but ultimately stepped in, glancing around the house with curiosity

"So you live with your dad?"

"Yeah, like I said, unpopular authors don't exactly make alot of money, so ... can't afford to move out yet, did you have to use your werewolf senses to figure that one out?"

"Mm... no, the larger jacket on the coat rack and the extra shoes sort of gave it away, but you really want to attribute SOMETHING to my being a werewolf, don't you?"

"No, just curious, I have a few werewolf freinds and they can't observe their way out of a papper bag if their noses are on the fritz,"

"And you?" Derek asked curiously, following Stiles into the kitchen as he went to check on the cookies

"And me what? I mean, I'm definitely pretty observant, if that's what you're asking,"

"No, I meant... what are you? You aren't a wolf, but you aren't human either, are you?"

"Wow, your observations know no bounds," Stiles snorted teasingly, a grin on his face as he cracked the oven open to give the cookies a quick check

Huh... still needed a few more minutes....

"I'm a witch, thanks for noticing, not alot of people pick up on that,"

Derek just shrugged, following Stiles into the living room as he walked and pausing suddenly in the doorway, eyebrows raised

There was a mess in the floor

Wich was something akin to going to a beach and saying there was sand on the ground

He honestly wasn't sure if he had ever seen this kind of mass destruction before in his _life_

The sheer AMOUNT of tape and wrapping papper alone was enough to make his head hurt, and there were boxes and bags and tissue papper scattered all over the place too

"Oh uh.... sorry, it's a little bit of a mess," Stiles mused slowly

Wich was alot like saying that there was "a bit" of lava in a volcano, but Derek seemed not to mind it too much, he just wandered over to one of the clean spots in the room and sat down

"Wrapping things I take it?" he teased

"Yeah, I'm not the best at it but I could be worse," Stiles shrugged back, plopping down in the middle of the floor and reaching for his scissors

He had been in the middle of wrapping something when he heard the doorbell, actually, so now it was naturally right back to it

"You know.... I'm not the WORST at wrapping.... if you want some help,"

Stiles jerked his head up, pleased surprise scrawled across his face as he locked eyes with the wolf across from him

"That would be awesome, really, thank you,"

"Then you can take this time to go get the cookies out of the oven, they'll burn if you leave them in there much longer," Derek warned with a small smirk

A look of startled dread fell over Stiles' face at that, causing him to spring up and scramble away from the wrapping

"And THAT was my werewolf senses," he added a second later, watching with mild amusement as Stiles rushed into the kitchen

"Yeah well thank those senses for me then!!"

"I'll do that," Derek teased playfully, turning his attention back to the wrapping at hand

"And don't burn yourself!" he shouted as an after thought

Given the fact that he heard a loud _"OUCH!"_ a second later...

Stiles probably hadn't heard him

 

~+~

 

At some point not long after the cookies were done it had started raining

And when Stiles said "raining" he didn't mean a light sprinkle

He meant the kind of blinding rain that you couldn't step outside in without getting soaked to the bone

The kind of rain that washed away everything in it's path

The kind of rain a person couldn't reasonably drive in...

Wich is exactly how they ended up in this situation

Well...

Maybe not "exactly" because Stiles would still never know how EXACTLY he ended up cuddling with Derek Hale on the couch watching How The Grinch Stole Christmas in the dark but hey, stuff happens, and he could probably credit it to the cookies

They had made another batch after plowing through the first one and now they were both kind of on a lazy sugar crash

But he was pretty sure werewolves didn't succumb to that as much as much as most people did so maybe he was wrong....

Everything was quiet

It had _been_ quiet for the last fifteen minutes or so, but the Grinch was half way through stealing Christmas now and Derek finally spoke again

"I never thanked you," he said softly

"You don't need to,"

Derek shifted in Stiles' arms, turning to face him with a stern- albeit tender- expression on his face

"Yes I do,"

"You do-"

"Stiles," he said firmly

"Thank you, for.... all of it, not just the pictures but... the persistence, no one has ever been so ... stubborn before,"

"Well just for you I'm gonna take that as a compliment," Stiles teased

"I meant it as one,"

"I figured as much,"

Things fell back into silence again, but this time it wasn't awkward or uncomfortable the way it had been earlier at the door

It was comfortable, it was.... peacefull, the way it had been since the "movie" (if you can call a thirty minute cartoon that) had started

It was nice, even though Derek hadn't turned back around and he was still staring at Stiles as if he were trying to figure him out or something

And maybe he was

Stiles had been told before that he was confusing and complicated and a battery of other semi-negative things so maybe that was it

But at the same time-

"Do you really want to spend Christmas with me?" Derek asked suddenly, breaking Stiles' chain of thought

"What-"

"Do you really WANT to? Or is it just ... a pity thing?"

Admittedly, at first, it kind of had been

It had broken Stiles' heart far too much to think about Derek being all alone on Christmas- and on his birthday for that matter, but now....

It was so much more than that now

Stiles had actually gotten to know Derek a little bit over the last few hours and he really legitimately wanted to be around him, he hoped Derek felt the same way, even though he probably didn't...

"I really WANT to Derek, I want to spend more time with you however I can but.... especially on a day when we're both alone, when no one should be alone,"

Derek went quiet again, but this time it was only for a breif moment

This time instead of speaking though, the silence ended a bit differently

Derek leaned forward, just slightly, and gave Stiles the softest, most chaste kiss he had ever had, before backing off, face bright red, and glancing down

Oh yeah, it was _definitely_ a left over high from the cookies

"So... what are you doing for New Year's?" Stiles asked with a smirk, bringing a look of pleasant surprise across the wolf's face

"Funny," he mused, looping his fingers around Stiles' and laying his head against the witch's chest

"I was just about to ask you the same question,"


End file.
